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Fifth Sunday after Epiphany, 02/04/2018
Sermon on Mark 1:29-39, by Judson F Merrell
29 As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.
30 Now Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once.
31 He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.
32 That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons.
33 And the whole city was gathered around the door.
34 And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.
35 In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.
36 And Simon and his companions hunted for him.
37 When they found him, they said to him, "Everyone is searching for you."
38 He answered, "Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do."
39 And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons. (Mar 1:29-39 NRS)
Brothers and sisters in Christ, grace and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
It is an honor and a pleasure for Grace to host our local Scouts this morning. We, like many churches throughout the United States, celebrate Scout Sunday today, and we honor this wonderful program that teaches boys how to become responsible men as they grow up. It was 25 years ago that I remember standing in front of my home congregation on Scout Sunday and receiving my Eagle Scout award. That award still hangs in my office today. It is proof of hard work and diligence. There are other Eagles among us today, and I am sure they will agree with me on the difficulty of earning that award. As proud as I was in that moment, I also couldn’t help but wonder: “What’s next?” Yes I had done all I needed to do to earn Eagle, but I found myself still searching. In the BSA program, there are additional awards you can earn after Eagle. You can continue to earn merit badges, be promoted in rank, participate in National Scout Jamborees, and even earn palms that go with your Eagle. So for those that earn Eagle and find themselves still searching for more, it is good to know that there is more. There is something to fill that thirst, that hunger that we all have at some point. In our Gospel lesson today, we see another example of this hunger and thirst for more. Mark presents the beginning of Jesus’ ministry as a series of healing stories. The first part of our Gospel lesson today, verses 29-34, tell of one of these. But it is the next part, verses 35-39, that show us how people hunger and thirst for the kingdom of God. We are built with this intrinsic need to want to know more. And when it comes to things we don’t fully understand, such as the Kingdom of God, it piques our interest. The first words of Jesus that Mark recorded were in 1:15. Mark presents these words as a transitional moment from Jesus’ baptism to his ministry. In that verse Jesus says: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” Fast forward just 20 verses, in the middle of the lesson we have today, and we see people, including the disciples, searching for this kingdom. Yes, they have seen Jesus heal Simon’s mother in law, they have seen Jesus heal a man with an unclean spirit. They have seen him cast out many other demons. They have seen him silence those demons. And they have seen his fame “spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee” as Mark puts it in 1:28. Jesus is something new. He is something different. He can cure the evil’s that exist in people’s lives. No wonder he was popular, and no wonder people went searching for him. They wanted to be a part of the action. They wanted to see and believe with their own eyes, to understand what God was up to. We do this still today. We look for ways to build up our faith. We look for something in the text we didn’t pick up on last time we read it. We see all this sickness and flu that is going around and pray that God will come and help us remove it. But in that search we find ourselves in a rather shallow place. Jesus’ healing is not just about making someone healthy again. It is about restoring them wholly. If we look at the many times that people sought out Jesus we would see that it is normally a hostile situation. So what changed between the lesson we have today and the rest of the Gospel account? What changed between then and now? It surely isn’t Jesus’ message that has changed. He was quite clear in verse 38: “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came to do.” If the message hasn’t changed, then perhaps we have? Do we seek the Lord in times of trouble? Do we still search for the kingdom that has come near? Or in this age of Google do we look elsewhere for answers? Perhaps in this day and age we should stop seeking so much, and instead pay attention to what we have. We know who Jesus is. We know why he came and we know how he did it. He hung on that cross for you and for me. But that was not the final act. That was not the last thing with nothing to follow. Instead, Jesus rose from the dead and ascended to heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father. The Kingdom of God has come near, people have searched, and in his death and resurrection we have found the ultimate gift of healing, a gift that all Christians share. A message sought, proclaimed, and believed, to the glory of God. In the name of the Father, and the + Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.